


Language of Love (Pardon My French)

by Sarcastic_Hypocrite



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Back in my day we don get no fancy tags, Blackmail, Drama, Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Kairi is not Roxas' favorite person, Lemon, M/M, OOC characters, Romance, Smut, Touch Of Humor, Young wippersnappers, like at all, they are all so adorable, watching them grow up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-15 06:04:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17523278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarcastic_Hypocrite/pseuds/Sarcastic_Hypocrite
Summary: When asked if anyone in the class knew how to speak French, five year old Axel instantly raised his hand. Too bad it wasn't the same kind of French the new blonde-haired boy knew.





	Language of Love (Pardon My French)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sarabellum93](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarabellum93/gifts).



> This story was actually started 2 years ago. I have decided to make it into a two-shot because of it's sheer length, and the fact that I need motivation to finish it.
> 
> Bonjour! This was a cute little idea I got from a meme about what kids accidentally learn from their parents as a child, and it seemed perfect for these two! It WAS supposed to be out for Valentine’s day... then life happened. Oh well! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
> 
> Little side note, I do not speak a lick of French. at all. Well ok, I took French for a year in middle school, so I remember like... the very very basics. Anywho, any French phrases you see that are more than one or two words will be the work of Google translate, and probably is not true and accurate. If anyone would like to correct the French parts of this story, please message me! I would greatly appreciate the help!

The world seemed so much bigger when they were kids. The sky was the limit and the world had no rules, but for these two little foreign exchange students, their world might just be in the sky right then. Two boys no older than four with bright blue eyes were seated in their booster seats in the back of a minivan, watching a world they had never seen before pass on by. They had been excited when their parents had told them they were going to visit America, hardly able to keep still the whole plane trip there.  It was all so new and exciting.

 

What they didn't know until right at that very moment was that they weren't going back to France. Their parents had made the decision to have them go to school in America long before they left, having their personal belongings shipped to them over the course of the summer. At first the boys loved America, loved how new and exciting it was, but it was all too quick that they learned that almost nobody spoke in their language.

 

It was all gibberish in Roxas' opinion, while Sora was just trying to grasp everything that was happening.  They missed home.  They wanted to leave. But whether the four-year old's liked it or not, they were there to stay. And staying meant that the pair would be starting preschool today if they had any hope of being able to start kindergarten with decent English.

 

Their mother parked and helped them out of their boosters in front of the school. She received no problems with Sora, but Roxas was having a fit and a half. He had kicked her a few times wherever he could land a hit, but she still managed to get him out of the van and partially cooperative at the mention of time out. After taking to them to their classroom she would give them both a kiss and asked them both – especially Roxas- to be on their best behavior.

 

In another class not far from there, a five-year-old red head was starting Kindergarten. He had only been in school for a total of two hours, and he was already notorious with the teachers for being a troublemaker.  It wasn't so much that he sought the trouble, it was more that he saw things in a different light from others. Having a brother that was seven years older than him and got into all sorts of crazy things while their parents were gone probably didn't help, either.

 

Axel felt like his head weighed a thousand pounds, not wanting to lift it off the table for anyone or anything.  He was bored out of his mind. Nothing was blowing up, nobody was being funny, and if he had to see another opened container of paint or letters or numbers his brain was going to explode all over!

 

“Eyes on me please!” his teacher called, not that he paid much attention to it. He decided that his head was a bit lighter though when he heard the door open, two little guys and a teachers’ aid coming into the classroom. His curiosity got the better of him and for the first time all day he actually paid attention to the front.

 

“Class, this is Roxas and Sora. They are from France and in preschool, so you will be seeing a lot of them. Be nice and say hi when you see them!” The teacher explained. Axel had heard of France, but thought it was only real in the movie or television world. His interest piqued even more.

 

“Roxas, Sora, vous présenter s'il vous plaît.” The teachers aid told the two boys, and all Axel caught was something about silver plates. Whatever that meant. But it seemed to make sense to them, because the shy brunette came out from behind what had to be his brother, shaking.

 

“B-bonjour... Je suis Sora ...” The shy brunette said, squeaking and went right back to his spot behind the blonde. Axel's curiosity started to deflate until he noticed the determined look on the blonde brother's face.

 

“... Roxas ? Roxas ? Il est à votre tour de vous présenter.” The aid said, trying to urge the blonde haired boy to introduce himself, but he was silent for a long while, just staring at the kids.  His blue orbs landed on Axel's acid green eyes and he let out a gasp, which was probably the exact point that Roxas' favorite color had become green. The sheer shock of how pretty he found them made his tough boy act slowly melt, his eyes going to the floor along with it.

 

“Je suis Roxas.” He said, his voice bolder than Sora's even with his eyes on the ground, which caught the red head's attention.  Maybe there was something worth going to school for after all.

 

“Now, is there anyone in here who speaks French and would like to become friends with them?” Was that what they were speaking? French? Axel could remember some words that his parents had said, but they didn't sound remotely close to what they were saying. Nonetheless, If Axel's parents spoke it, then how hard could it be for him? He grinned and raised his hand.

 

“Oh my, Axel? Well, if you say so, go ahead and introduce yourself.” The teacher eyed him warily, he hadn't known that their family knew how to speak French, and she had been around since Reno was his age. Without a care in the world Axel got up, scrunching up his nose at the fact that he was a little bit shorter than Roxas even though he was older. The face went away though when he stood in front of the blonde haired boy, replaced with a smile.

 

“Okay, umm what was it again? Oh yeah.” Axel said, remembering the distinct words that came to mind when he thought of his parent's 'pardon my French' line. He took a breath and let it all out at once.

 

“Pardon my French, Dammit, Shit, sonofa bitch! Shit shit Fu-” He was cut off with a hand to his mouth, the teacher's eyes wide in horror.

 

“AXEL FLYNN! Where did you learn to speak like that!? Go sit in the corner this instant!” That was also the day Axel learned about the difference between cuss words and actual French.

 

* * *

 

 “Qui es-tu?” Asked a familiar bold voice, which Axel was too mad at to even look at.

 

“Go away! My parents are being called on the first day of school because of you and your gibberish speaking!” He let out all at once, swinging upside down on the tricky bars and had his arms crossed over his chest. Roxas just ignored the garble coming out of the red head's mouth, still looking at him expectantly since he'd asked who he was.

 

After a good whole ten seconds of waiting, Roxas climbed up the tricky bars himself, hanging upside down with Axel and would just stare and wait. Axel did his best to stay mad at him, but he couldn't bring himself to and sighed, knitting his eyes together at the blonde boy.

 

“Ok, I'm only gonna say this once! My. Name. Is. Axel. A.X.E.L. Got it memorized?” He said slow and loud and long, causing Roxas to wince a bit.  American's all seemed to be so noisy. He thought he understood though, enough to know that his name was probably Axel, and that he should let him know that he's saying the alphabet wrong at some point. Instead of using words, Roxas nodded in understanding.

 

“Axel.” Roxas said brokenly, sounding more like 'Auxelle' but it was the best he could do with his heavy accent. Axel growled in frustration and got down.  This speaking French thing was really getting on his nerves.

 

“Donc, vous êtes Axel, et je suis Roxas. Exact?” He asked, scrambling off the bars himself to meet Axel's gaze. He found himself really liking the guy, even if he did seem really annoyed by his presence.  'Auxelle' would just have to get used to it.

 

“Yeah, sure, 'exact' I guess. You better learn how to speak English soon, kid!” He retorted, which only made Roxas tilt his head.  American's and their language were so confusing.

 

“Je ne comprends pas.” Roxas didn't understand a word that Axel was saying, nor did he know how to communicate that. It started to make him frustrated, and realized that he needed to take this school thing seriously if he wanted to be friends with the red headed kid.

 

“Oh good, comprends is like comprende, which means you understand!” Axel said with a bit of relief, clapping his hand on the taller blonde's shoulder as the bell rang. “See ya around, Roxy!” He said with a wave, leaving Roxas there to stop and ponder the nickname that exploded out of the red head's mouth.

 

“Roxy?”

 

* * *

 

 The first three months of their friendship, if that was even what you could call it at the time, was excruciating for the three of them. They only saw each other at recess since Axel was a grade higher, but it was enough to make the red head want to strangle the twins, because none of them could understand each other.  Slowly but surely though, Roxas and Sora picked up a few of the basics. Being able to say hello and introduce themselves to others, as well as understand things like colors, family members, numbers, etc.

 

But most importantly, they learned how to ask 'what's that?'. A phrase that, begrudgingly, Axel had become very acquainted to for both of the brothers. Whether it was a tree, an ant, a rock, the monkey bars, slide, swings, a door, window, or teacher, Roxas and Sora would go to Axel for the answer. And every time, Axel would tell them the answer, even if he had heard the question for the whole fifteen minutes of recess straight. Most of the time it was Roxas asking, seeming more interested in the idea of learning English than Sora, who would rather play and do his studying later.  The more Axel answered the questions, the more he and the blonde could talk, and he didn't mind helping Roxas' little brother either.

 

It wasn't until Axel was in third grade that the phrase 'what's that?' was almost completely taken out of the vocabulary. Three whole years, and even though Roxas still had an accent (Sora more so than him), He was completely bilingual, or at least as bilingual as a second grader should be, and caught up to the English curriculum. Axel could remember Roxas and Sora staying the full day in Kindergarten even though they were supposed to only stay half a day just to catch up, and boy did they make a leap that year.

 

He also knew that at the same time, his parents were teaching the boys how to read and write in French at home, and it was a big part of their nightly routine. It had happened more than once when he slept over where they were pulled away for an hour to read or write.  How they managed to put up with so much knowledge was totally beyond the red head, being one to get home, do his homework and veg out while fifteen-year-old Reno pretended to babysit him. And that's only with the assumption that he'd actually bothered with his homework.

 

“You know Roxy, I don't get how you and Sora manage to get so much work done.” He said, waiting in line with the blonde to take a go at a game of tether ball.  They were both around the same height at that point, which made Axel feel a little bit better, but he didn't really seem to notice much anyways. Roxas shrugged.

 

“Mom says it'll make things easier on us when we're adults. Would you stop calling me Roxy? That sounds like a girl's name.” Roxas told him, doing his best to fight off the inevitable accent that he still had. It was something he wanted to work on, something that still got in his way from time to time.

 

“Nope, no can do Roxy. You're just stuck with the nickname.” He said and went up to play some ball, which he had won fairly quickly.  Axel and Roxas were both fairly tall for their ages, and Sora was just a few inches behind the blonde, making games like tether ball a breeze without some sort of height equality. They found themselves going at it for the rest of recess, groans being heard from the long line formed since they didn't get to play.

 

“Ils auraient eu une chance de jouer si elles ne sont pas si lent.” Roxas called back to them, and Axel raised an eyebrow.  The blonde would sometimes do that, say random stuff in French for the sole purpose of making Axel scratch at his red locks.

 

“Huh?” He asked as they headed towards their lines. Roxas smiled.

 

“Basically, you snooze, you lose.” He told Axel, who stopped at his line.  They had both come a long way from their toddler days, even if those toddler days were just a mere three years ago. Axel couldn't help the smile that formed on his face as he waived to his friend. He knew Roxas was just as much of a troublemaker as he was.

 

* * *

 

 “Why don't you ever speak in French anymore?” eleven-year-old Axel asked while slaughtering his best friend in a game of Mario Kart. Ten-year-old Roxas looked at him weird for a split second before throwing a handful of chips to distract him.

 

“I speak in French all the time.” was his response, chucking the controller on the floor when the results showed up on the screen, Axel winning by mere _centimeters_ , If that's how they measured in video games. Axel laughed and pointed his finger at his fuming friend, almost falling out of the chair he was in.

 

“Keep it down ya little shites, I'm trying to study!” a call came from down the hall followed by a loud thud that only made Axel laugh harder.  Reno stomped through the hall and kicked open the door, seeing his laughing buffoon brother on the floor and Roxas trying to stifle his laughs with snorts.

 

“Look, just ‘cause you get to relax and take it easy before going into school doesn't mean that all of us do! I've got a shit ton of entrance exams coming up and I ain’t failing them ‘cause you can't keep your yapper shut!” He narrowly dodged a shoe that Axel had thrown, trying to grasp at composure as he got up off the floor.

 

“Get-” Another fit of giggles “Get the fuck out, Reno.” He said, chucking the matching sneaker at his head, but the older male had already slammed the door shut and trudged back to his room. Roxas couldn't hold back his laughter anymore, and the two of them wound up on the floor in fits.

 

It took them a minute to calm down, and Roxas was wiping away tears. “Oh, what was so funny again?” He asked, and Axel just shook his head.

 

“I've got no idea.” He grinned back up at the blonde who was now sitting on the bed, rolling over to face him on the floor.

 

“You never answered my question, Roxy.” He chided, wiggling his eyebrows before laughing and sitting up on the bed with him. He knew that the blonde boy would speak to his family in his native language, but he had stopped saying it randomly for the red head a while ago, and Axel... well, he missed it. Though he would never admit it.

 

“Yes I did. Sora will only speak to me if I talk to him in French.” He said, wrinkling his nose. “Something about family heritage and needing to stay in touch that side, _Viva la France!_ ” Roxas emphasized, slipping back into a heavier French accent that he hadn't had in ages. Those days the blonde's accent was really starting to fade.

 

“I don't get why he's so into it though. We've lived here a lot longer than we ever lived there. I don't even remember that much about it anymore.” He admitted, though it didn't seem to bring him down any.  America was home to him now.

 

“He probably just likes the fact that he can speak two languages. Besides your parents haven't really gotten any better at English since they moved here.” Axel summed up, pulling his feet up on the bed and waved his hand in dismissal. There were more than one occasions where Roxas or Sora had to translate to Axel, or even times when they were grocery shopping that they had the twins read the labels for them.

 

“Quel est le point de dire quelque chose en français when I can say it just as easily in English?” Roxas said so quick that Axel almost didn't catch it. When he did though he chuckled and ruffled Roxas' blonde locks, making the now slightly shorter man pout.

 

“Could always use it as a way to share secrets between brothers. You’re lucky to have a twin, I can't share shit with loudmouth Reno across the hall.” He said, smirking at the call of 'I heard that!' coming from down the hall followed by a string of curses.  Roxas had never thought about it like that, though there wasn't anything that he really kept secrets about, either.

 

“What should we do next?” Roxas asked, putting off the idea for the time being.  He was nervous, more so than usual, because school started in a week and it was the first year that he and Axel wouldn't be in the same school.  He and Sora would be ok, having Hayner, Pence, and Olette around and they were in the same grade. But Axel had always been a troublemaker, and Roxas was the only one who he really got along with.

 

“Dunno. Before anything we should go restock on snacks.” Axel offered, stretching out his long legs before getting up and headed to his bedroom door, Roxas in tow. Axel smiled to himself some, thoughts of his classes fluttering through his mind that were going to start in a week. Among the list of required classes was one that Axel all but insisted on taking. After all, if his best friend could be bilingual, why couldn't he?

 

* * *

 

 Twelve-year-old Roxas stood in front of the mirror, glaring daggers at the reflection that he saw, or more what the reflection showed he had on his forehead. He had apparently started puberty earlier than Sora, having a ridiculously squeaky voice and overly pimpled forehead. All his brunette twin could do was laugh whenever he spoke, which oh so made his confidence level just overflow... not.

 

He and Axel still remained friends, but the red head usually only had time to play (Or 'hang out' since that's what cool teenagers said) on the weekends because of all the homework they gave him in middle school.  The thought made Roxas' glare get even more deadly; he had enough to do with the elementary homework and the lessons his parents insisted on giving him every night.

 

“Dépêchez, Roxas! Nous allons être en retard!” Sora called from downstairs and Roxas growled. Yes, he was very aware that they were going to be late. How was he supposed to go to school though with an army of white pus and a voice that matched a soprano?

 

“Juste... donnez-moi une minute.” Roxas halfheartedly called back, his French sounding a lot more Americanized than Sora's did. It wasn't that he couldn't pronunciation his words anymore, it's that he was choosing not to, mostly because he knew it drove Sora bat shit crazy.

 

“Parlez mieux! Vous n'êtes pas deux Roxas!” Sora called with a huff, heading to the front door and slammed it shut, to which Roxas just rolled his eyes for being criticized.  He spoke perfectly well in French.  But he wanted to kick the habit of having an accent, and they only way he knew how was with practice, Something Sora never bothered with.

 

He gave up on the idea of hiding his forehead, grabbing his dejected bag off of the bathroom floor before heading down the stairs. It was going to be an all new experience, and it made him wish for the earth below to swallow him up whole.  But at least Axel would be there, right?

 

Well, half right. Axel was there when the twins made it to the school, having promised to show them around and introduce them to his new friends. It became apparent very fast that Axel's new 'friends' weren't exactly people that Roxas wanted to hang around. The pink haired man and the blue haired man, Marluxia and Saix if he remembered correctly, were almost certainly in a gang. And the blonde haired chick, Larxene, was just annoying as he'd get out. Axel had even gone as far as getting tattoos under his eyes during the summer to fit in with these people, and the blonde for the life of him couldn't understand it.

 

After the initial meet up though, Axel had left to go be with his friends, he just HAD to keep up appearances. even after Roxas' passive aggressive attempt at protest, He left him to just shake his head and head back to where Sora, Hayner, Pence, and Olette were sitting.

 

“Looks like your friend is too good to hang out with small fry now.” Hayner scoffed out, getting back into the conversation he was having before with the rest of the group.  The idea tugged at his heart strings, frown plastering his lips as he set down his pimpled forehead not-too-gently onto the table in front of him.  Middle school was going to suck.

 

* * *

 

 Riku and Kairi. Kairi and Riku. Those two names seemed to be the only two words that Sora had in his vocabulary as of late, and it was pissing Roxas off.  He was glad his brother had a new friend and a crush, but did he seriously have to go on and on about it? Especially since his best friend only came by once in a blue moon anymore?

 

“Vous avez besoin de voir sa collection, Roxas! Riku a tous, incluing l'édition limité ! Kairi est un coeur doux, aussi, elle est venu vers moi alors que nous avions du temps libre et nous avons parlé à jamais. Je pense qu'elle est la seule pour moi, Roxas. Je vais lui demander de sortir le lundi, avec des fleurs, chocolat...” It never seemed to stop. No, Sora, I don't care about Riku's awesome collection or how you’re going to ask Kairi out, he thought to himself. There came a knock at the door to the room he and Sora shared and he didn't bother to move, preferring to instead stare up at the ceiling while Sora got it.

 

“Hey Axel it's good to see you! Roxas is moping around as usual.” Sora told the redhead who was leaning against their bedroom door frame. Great, he had yet another reason to be in a foul mood.  He got up off his bed, not really feeling up to dealing with both of them together, but he hardly saw Axel anymore.

 

“Only because you won't shut up about Riku and Kairi. Seriously Sora, you CAN talk to me in, oh I dunno, English? Since we've been speaking English for only twice as long as we ever did French.” He quipped, but Sora wasn't even paying attention as he left the room, leaving Roxas to beat up his pillows while Axel watched in amusement.

 

“You two'll never stop going at it, will you?” Acid green eyes asked before sitting at the foot of the bed. He had never actually meant to avoid his best friend, but he was caught up in other things, but more so other feelings. Feeling that were stirring for the blonde boy himself.

 

 He found himself going to parties, dabbling in illegal shit and sharing dirty jokes with no one and everyone as long as it meant he could get his mind off how he felt.  It was stuff that others thought was cool, so it also made him cool by default. It even gave him an excuse for him and his older brother to bond more.  They had gone in to get their face tattoos at the same time, and both got in deep trouble for it later.

 

But Axel also knew that that was the kind of stuff that Roxas didn't like, and so he knew the blonde would never join him. Between that, and the fact that he was taking really hard classes, he never really had a chance to hang out with the blonde, which in a way was how he wanted it.

 

Said blonde was currently ignoring his friend to the best of his abilities while being within two inches of him.  He deserved it, choosing to hide in popularity over what he knew was right, and more importantly ignoring him during the whole process. There was no excuse, and he was hellbent on letting Axel know that there wasn't. The redhead closed his eyes and sighed, laying back against the wall.

 

“Look, Rox... I'm sorry. I know I've been ignoring you, and really I haven't meant to, it's just...” Axel trailed off.  How was he supposed to say that he secretly had a crush on him?  Roxas gripped the sheets of his bed hard enough to tear them a bit, mumbling something incoherent. Axel turned his head.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Je l'ai dit ici est un PUTAIN DE SECRET pour vous. Je perds mon meilleur ami, et je suis effrayé, ABRUTI!” Roxas shouted in all his teenage squeaky glory, kicking Axel off of his bed and got up, shoving him out of the bedroom and slammed the door in his face hard enough for Sora to hear from the kitchen.

 

“Get out! Ne venez pas beack jusqu'à ce que vous comprenez vous-même, you ASSHOLE!” Roxas called out. Axel stood there in shock, he had no idea what had just happened, but Roxas had never actually swore, ever, and especially not at him. Had his brain been functioning, he would've tried to comprehend what Roxas had shouted at him with the year and a half of French classes he had taken, but it didn't take a genius to know that he had done something very, very wrong.

 

“What happened?” Sora's soft voice came from the bottom of the stairs, and Roxas was doing his best just to hold the door shut and keep from falling, every limb he had was shaking. He was scared, terrified, and had acted out in rage instead.  He was scared that his best friend was going to change and leave him alone for those pathetic excuse for friends.  He was afraid that he had been demoted down to 'Rox' when he knew Axel had deliberately given him the infuriating nickname 'Roxy' because _he didn't give a damn about what others thought._

 

All he just did was speed up the process, he thought bitterly. And he knew his assumptions were true when the patter of Axel's feet hitting the stairs rang through his ears.  It had been the loudest noise he'd ever heard. As the front door slammed shut, he let out a sob, falling to the ground as Sora shoved his way into the bedroom.

 

“J'ai peur, Sora... I'm scared for Axel...” He told his twin, letting out another sob when the brunette helped him back on the bed and rubbed his back.  The house always seemed just a little bit quieter after that.

 

* * *

 

 “I need you to help me make Hayner jealous.” Came the soft, gentile voice of a demon in disguise.  Or at least, fourteen turning fifteen in a week year old Roxas thought so. He had changed a lot in almost three years. The squeakiness in his voice was almost completely gone, and his accent gone with it. The baby fat in his cheeks had given way to a gentle masculine face, and his acne under control with some help from a nightly face scrub.  He almost felt bad for Sora, who was still going through the most awkward phase of puberty. Which led up to where he was now, sitting across from the devil woman that Sora had once called 'sweetheart'.

 

“Give me one good reason why I should do that?” He asked, tone flat with her as he sipped down the fruity drink he ordered.  She had called him out to one of their usual shake parlors to talk about an 'important proposition', in which Sora insisted that he go since a tiny part of him hoped that Kairi would take him back again. 'Again' meaning the fifth time they broke up and had gotten back together since the seventh grade. Or was it the sixth?

 

“Because you're gay so I know you won't get awkward feelings for me, and the only other option is Sora.” She said simply, not wanting to have to go into details. Roxas narrowed his eyes at her, he knew that she was going to use both of those as blackmail if he refused.

 

It wasn't that he hadn't tried going on dates with women.  Sora had dragged him out on many occasions, setting him up on blind dates.  The ones who he most often went on dates with were Olette, Yuffie, And Aerith. He found himself having fun a lot of the time, but that's as far as it got... just fun. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the distraction after his and Axel's spat, He just didn't find himself attracted to them, and they could tell. It wasn't a straight and narrow path to discovering that he was attracted to guys, Olette finally getting fed up with him trying to take her out and told him outright. Even then he went on a few dates to prove her wrong, only finding he couldn't.

 

The only problem with that though is that he didn't know any guys he was interested in, so there were little to no distractions for the past three months. And for the three months before he started high school, all he could think about was his old best friend who he would no doubt run into at the high school after a whole year in different schools.

 

“So you want me to help you catch Hayner's attention and help shatter my brother's heart into a million pieces doing so, just so that you don't have to?” He said sternly, and only got a wavering nod from Kairi.

 

“You know I'm only here because he hoped you were thinking of ways to take him back, right?” He told her, finishing off the fruit drink and asked the waiter for another.  If she was going to drag him out for shit like this, he would make sure it cost her every penny his bladder could hold.

 

“I know... But Roxas hear me out. There are two sides to a relationship... Even though it may seem like I dumped him 'cause of his...” She scrunched up her nose, and Roxas knew that she would be lying. “Acne and squeaky voice... and those godawful glasses he has to wear...” Knew it, Roxas thought to himself, and was about to tune her out and turn her down.  But the auburn haired woman didn't give him a chance, sighing.

 

“I broke up with him because I think there's someone else who likes him for more than just his looks.” She said shortly, not trying to beat around the bush anymore. She had originally started dating Sora because she thought he was cute, but when the icky part of teenage-hood hit she couldn't look past it. Roxas gave her a funny look, who could she be talking about? Olette had already declared to him that she was going after Pence, Yuffie batted for the other team, and Aerith was pining after an older guy named Zack. That left only Selphie, and he knew for a fact that she was more like a hyperactive sister than anything to the brunette.

 

Roxas couldn't pinpoint it, and was more focused on how awful Kairi had treated him the last five months of their on and off relationship.  His blood boiled at how many times Sora had come home crying, sniffling in bed for hours or even days until Riku came looking for him.  It had gotten to the point where Riku would just come over when Roxas called and mentioned the words 'Kairi' and 'breakup'. Sometimes he brought over ice cream and movies and Roxas would leave for a while, only to find the pair curled up on the sofa together when he came home. There were times that Riku didn't leave their house until Sora and Kairi got back together. Even when they did get back together though, Sora was always happier with Riku than he ever had been with-

 

Shit.

 

She was right on the marker.

 

“So will you help me?” She asked, batting her eyelashes at him while slowly taking a sip of her drink.  Even if Roxas had been straight, he wouldn't trust that devil bitch with a ten-foot pole.

 

Then again, it WAS a good distraction.

 

“If he doesn't get the hint after the first week of school, you’re on your own.” Was the only reply she received as he ordered a third drink just so she would have to pay for it.

 

“Deal.” She smiled and shook his hand before getting up and walked to the door, leaving a dumbfounded Roxas to pay for not only her drink, but the three drinks he had ordered thinking she would pay. Devil woman.

 

* * *

 

 Fifteen-year-old Roxas had only been at the charade for three hours, and he was already sick of Kairi's crap. She had clung to him from the minute she walked in the school building, which thankfully for him he had already swung by the office and picked up his schedule so it wasn't that big of a deal. 

 

He told Sora the day after Kairi blackmailed him that he had agreed to help her win over Hayner's attention, which inevitably made his younger twin of twelve minutes sulk on his side of the room for the week up to their birthday. His saving grace was that Riku showed up with two boxes of his favorite chocolate, a stuffed bunny rabbit that was from that point on named Steve, a dozen roses, and a silver necklace with a crown, engraved on the back was Sora's name in bold letters.  Whether Riku had actually worked up the courage to ask him out or not was beyond Roxas' knowledge, but he did know that Sora had spent as much time as he could with him after that.

 

None of that mattered though when he couldn't even walk from one class to another without Kairi hanging off of him.  It had reached the point of ridiculousness, Hayner's classes were on the opposite side of the school! It was at the end of third period that he decided he couldn't go through with it after all.

 

The blonde male was all but hobbling to the school's lunch room with Kairi in tow.  He wanted to actually enjoy the fact that they had an earlier lunch and an extra minute between classes. But the red headed demon was making the idea of enjoying high school turn into a pain in the rear.

 

They had grabbed their food from the lunch line and Roxas all but rolled his eyes when he was dragged to the table where Hayner, Pence, Olette, Riku, and Sora were sitting at. He almost dropped his lunch when he'd noticed the four _other_ people sitting at the table.

 

The first three extra people barely registered in Roxas' mind. A slate-haired man with his nose buried in a book, looking up occasionally to make a short note on the conversation. Another man who had a brunette mullet and a bubbly personality that rivaled Sora's, strumming at what looked like an oversized guitar. A woman twirling a finger in her lemon yellow hair that cascaded by her face like antennae, who he knew to be Larxene. She didn't really seem to be there for the conversation. She looked like she was there for a different reason, and that reason happened to have blazing firetruck red hair.

 

“Get a move on, Roxas!” Kairi chided, but Roxas didn't move even when she tugged at him.

 

“Forget it. Being tugged around was not part of the deal.” He told her, his eyes never leaving the mane of red that was shining all too brightly at him.  He'd let his hair grow out, too.

 

“Oh, but _Roxy_ , you wouldn't want to let certain people know about your love life and possibly ruin your friendship, now would you?” He gritted his teeth at the nickname slipping out of her lips.  It wasn't so much that he didn't want to be friends with the redhead, or even be honest about himself... It was that they were still on such rocky terms.

 

He hadn't really talked to the red head after he'd kicked him out that night.  He had heard from teachers, friends, and friends of friends all the trouble that Axel had caused and all the stuff he'd dabbled into in middle school, going as far as getting suspended twice. He had thought about confronting him, but it was something that the red head had to work out of himself.  Judging by the fact that he was sitting at the table with all of the blonde's friends, he took it as a sign that he did, or still is, working it out.

 

Sky blue eyes met acid green as Kairi triumphantly got Roxas to cooperate, sitting herself between Hayner and the reluctant male on the cafeteria bench, meaning that Roxas was sitting directly across from Axel.

 

Axel had never been so nervous in his entire sixteen years of existence. He was looking down at the blonde haired man sitting across from him in silence.  Axel had been over to the twins once or twice when Sora and Riku invited him, but whenever he'd be there Roxas would disappear. They had completely avoided each other the last two years of middle school, and it was easy to avoid each other when Axel moved up to high school.

 

It was then that his so-called 'friends' had decided they weren't getting enough pleasure from the alcohol, cigarettes, weed, and partying every night and decided to move up to meth and cocaine at only fifteen years old.  Riku had caught wind of it and literally beat some sense into Axel, telling him that nothing was worth getting into that. And when the red head told his 'friends' that he was going clean, they abandoned him. All except one, that is.

 

Larxene had a crush on him in middle school, and the red head knew about it. He was surprised though when she stayed with him even though he had been left in the dust, since he knew she had gotten over him and had a thing for Marluxia instead. Soon enough Riku dragged Axel into his small three-man circle of friends out of pity, the lemon-and-lime woman trailing behind him.

 

“Long time no see.” He commented in his nasally sing song tone of his that had developed when his voice dropped. He inwardly cursed himself, thinking he probably sounded like a total prick to Roxas. He almost thought that the blonde would ignore him, but after a good minute blue orbs looked up to him with confidence.

 

“Yeah. It's been a while.” Roxas gave him a curt nod, unsure of if there was anything else he could say, but all that the tall lanky man could do was gawk. His ex-best friend's voice sounded like smooth buttered toast to him, mixed in with an all American breakfast accent that could only be achieved by the wonder that was Roxas.

 

When did Roxas voice sound so _good?_

 

Meanwhile the blonde was shifting in his spot uncomfortably, between Kairi trying and failing to fake flirt with him and Axel's ridiculously cat-like gaze, he felt suffocated. After a minute of staring down at his food he moved to get up from his spot and headed for the nearest hallway.  He just had to get away from them, the feeling... whatever that feeling was.

 

What he hadn't expected was to be stopped mid-stride in the hall by a firm hand to the shoulder.  He didn't want to turn around, he didn't want to just give in and say that everything was fine between him and his ex-best friend. He had been all but abandoned. The worst part of it though was he knew his anger would melt to the floor if he dared to turn around.

 

“Look, Roxy...” That damnable nickname again. “...I'm sorry.  I know I fucked up- royally, and...” Roxas heard his friend sigh behind him, fumbling around to try and come up with words like he always had when he felt guilty for pulling pranks when they were kids.  Roxas didn't know whether to be happy or bitter at the fact he remembered so much about him. With a sigh, Roxas turned to meet his friends gaze.

 

“Axel, I-” He was met with a face full of curvy chest and hips that no man should ever have, and the blonde almost thought he was talking to the wrong person until he craned his neck upwards. There was a good foot and a half difference between the two.

 

When did Axel get so _tall?_

 

If he'd been staring, he hadn't noticed until hands were being waived in his face, Axel's cat like eyes showing hints of worry that snapped Roxas back into reality.  He rubbed at his eyes and held back the urge to groan.  He did NOT just check out his ex-best friend, that he was still pretty mad at, mind you. Nope, not at all.

 

“Sorry, umm... look, I'm kinda... doing a favor for Kairi. Can we talk about this after school?” Roxas insisted. The red devil was probably extremely pissed that he'd taken off, and he didn't want her to start using the very little blackmail she had on him. Axel raised an eyebrow and folded his arms, silently saying 'are you kidding me?' to the distressed shorter male.  He decided not to push it though.

 

“Sure thing, if you don't decide to bail out like the last three times I've gone to your house.” He said, scratching his red locks sheepishly.  Roxas shook his head.

 

“No. We'll go over to your place...” Roxas said firmly. He knew he would go through with it, but he wasn't really looking forward to it. They headed back to their seats, eating their food in silence, or at least as silent as they could get with Kairi hanging off of Roxas the whole time. The blonde had finally registered Sora practically in Riku's lap at that point.

 

Well, least one of them was content.

 

* * *

 

 There should have been an awkwardness to all of it, but there wasn't. The award for best icebreaker was definitely going to Reno, who was sprawled out on the couch half naked with his upper body hanging upside down, playing a shooting game on his Xbox in the living room.

 

“Yo Roxas, long time no see bro!” He called out, still concentrating on the game going on in front of him. Axel threw his bag on the floor of the hard wood floors, grabbing himself and Roxas drinks out of the kitchen, which was partially connected to the living room.

 

“Could you put on a shirt and go screw your girlfriend or somethin'?” Axel called out to his twenty-four-year-old brother who just sputtered in response.

 

“You're kidding, right? He'll castrate me if I wake him up this early.” Reno and Rude were night guards for the local stadium, and even though it was Reno's day off, Rude still had to work that night.

 

“Bet he'd be thrilled with you for calling him a girl again.” Reno said, but paused the game, looking over to the two teenagers with a funny look in his eye.

 

“Yeah yeah whatever, just get the fuck outta here for a few hours, okay?” Axel told him, throwing a shirt at his face that had been in the kitchen for some ungodly reason. Roxas couldn't resist a smile. Nothing had changed here at all, and it made him feel so much better about the situation.

 

“Whatever, just stay the hell away from my room, and for fuck's sake be decent and do it in your OWN bed and not the couch.” Roxas blushed at Reno's comment, and couldn't help but notice that Axel was blushing, too. There were no more words passed around as Reno got up from his position, face all red from the blood that no doubt rushed to his face upside down, and hiked up a pair of skinny jeans found in one of the corners of the room. He winked at Roxas, whose blush just got worse and grabbed his car keys, heading out the door.

 

“That asshole just doesn't know when to shut up.” Axel mumbled with a half grin, trying to lighten the mood.  Roxas almost fell for it, but at the last second made his still tomato-shade face look stern, making sure not to break eye contact with the red head.

 

“What did you want to talk about?” He asked straightforward.  He knew that Axel's parents worked late and wouldn't be home for a good few hours, and with Reno gone, they were free to let everything out in the open.  Axel took in a breath and let it out slowly, leaning against the island counter in the kitchen with Roxas taking the stool across from him.

 

“Look, I... You were right. I did things that were supposed to be cool... and lost my best friend for popularity.” He said pathetically, going on to tell how Riku, Demyx, and Zexion had pretty much wrenched him out of the situation over the course of the previous year. He didn't say anything about Larxene which made Roxas curious, but he figured he would get to know her deal in time.

 

“So... I'm sorry. Forgive me? I... I miss our friendship.” He ended lamely, eyes suddenly in tune with every curve in the wood flooring. The blonde stood up from his stool and punched the taller man in the arm, offering him a soft smile. “You grab the snacks, and I'll pick the game.” He said, heading up to Axel's room and left said man completely dumbfounded before his mind caught up to him. He smiled and started picking out snacks for the two of them.

 

Everything seemed just a little bit brighter again.

 

* * *

 

 “You can still speak two languages, right?” The taller man asked with a face full of chips, quickly pressing a sequence of buttons to try and pass Roxas in the final round. He had been curious, the last time he saw his friend he at least had an accent.  Now that was all gone.

 

“I can, but I try not to.” He said truthfully.  Sora had finally come out of his phase of only speaking to him in French, so the only ones he really talked to were his parents. It wasn't like he would forget; it WAS his native language after all.  He just chose not to.

 

“Could you say something for me? You know, since the last time you did you threw me out and all?” He asked with a pleading face. Roxas looked to him with a thoughtful look, passing through the finish line before stretching and put down his controller. Axel waited patiently while the blonde thought, biting his lip some.  He had taken four years of French classes already, and it was the only class for a while that he actually put effort into.  He wasn't all that confident about his skills, but he was willing to try.

 

“Alright. Je suis vraiment heureux que nous sommes de nouveau amis, Axel. Je vous ai manqué beaucoup.” Roxas looked hesitant, like he was going to keep going. But Axel was too busy being happy he actually understood what was being said. He was glad that he wasn't the only one who missed their friendship, and almost answered him back, but decided against it.

 

“Un autre secret que je l'ai, j'aime les hommes. Et je ne sais pas comment le dire à vous.” Axel turned his head and smirked where Roxas couldn't see. The red head had come to terms with his not so straight sexuality years ago, and hearing that his once ex best friend now friend (that's a mouthful) was also part of the rainbow club, ideas started to form in his mind.

 

He swallowed down the smirk he had and turned back to Roxas, shrugging and shaking his head before getting back to the game.  When he noticed his dejected look though Axel clapped a hand on the shorter male's shoulder.

 

“It's all good.” He reassured him, both for their friendship and for his sexuality.

 

* * *

 

 Well, damn.

 

When he had decided to set two of his best friends up with each other, he didn't expect to get _jealous_. He thought that the secret feelings he'd harbored for the blonde died along with their old friendship in middle school, but boy was he certainly knocked in the head for that assumption.

 

Not that he could blame anyone but himself. He had all but thrown Roxas into Demyx's lap. He had made jabs at him at first, asking what the blonde thought of the sea green eyed male, and Roxas couldn't deny the fact that he was attractive. It wasn't long after that Zexion and Axel had teamed up and set them on a blind date. The first one must've gone well because they went on another. And another. And another.

 

The pair of blonde's took things too painstakingly slow for both the red head and the slate haired male's liking.  Zexion was frustrated with Demyx for constantly nagging him during the day, and Axel was just trying to help a friend with his love life.  The saying 'you don't know what you have until it's gone' just sent a flying curve ball straight at them the middle of Axel and Zexion's junior year.

 

After just going out on the occasional date for the longest year and a half in existence, Roxas finally built up the courage to make the proposition of going steady. Demyx had happily accepted, and the two friends who helped push them together were free to live their own lives knowing their friends were taken care of.  Or so they'd thought.

 

The first week was heaven for Zexion. It was like he saw life in a new light, with peace and quiet.  Axel wasn't all that different from where he was before.  It wasn't until they realized just how absent the pair suddenly became that it had clicked. They saw the pair at lunch, but most of the time they were talking to each other more than others.  Zexion started to miss Demyx' consistent bantering, and Axel just didn't see Roxas nearly as much as he was used to.  There were weeks where the two were inseparable, and all of a sudden he was alone again.

 

Of course, the two weren't about to try and separate their lovebird friends.  No matter how much they really, really wanted to.

 

So, miserable they remained for three whole months.  For Axel's junior prom, he, Larxene, and Zexion all went together in a group, usually standing around the refreshments table, pretending to know how to dance, or taking turns with Larxene during slow songs. The only ones who had been lucky enough to get a date were of course Riku and Demyx. Same with the last prom and every dance in between.

 

Across the intricately decorated gymnasium, not everything was going perfect in paradise.  Roxas and Demyx pulled off of the dance floor, taking a breather from all of the swaying and bouncing in the overly stuffy atmosphere of the dance floor.  The spring air outside hit their blazing red skin and made it tingle.

 

“Hey, Roxas.... We've been dating for a while now, haven't we?” The dirty blonde asked his boyfriend, sitting on the ground and looked up to the stars.  Roxas knew exactly where this was going.  He had seen it coming almost since the day they had gone steady.

 

“Yeah we have. Why?” He asked, sitting next to him on the slightly wet grass, pulling up his legs to his chest almost in defense.

 

“It's just... Well I mean, we get along really well... As in, your one of my best friends, but...” Roxas smiled to himself as Demyx fidgeted.  The guitarist had never been all that great at conveying how he felt or taking the initiative, especially when it was something important. Roxas knew he was right. There was some attraction at first, but the more time they spent together, the less lovey-dovey they were. They hadn't even kissed or held hands in over two weeks.

 

“You know... You've always been the happiest looking up at the stars.” Demyx jerked his head back to Roxas, who was smiling up at the sky. They both knew the obsession Zexion had with stars and constellations.

 

“So... you noticed? Heh...” Blue orbs turned to meet green and a small nod of approval was given before Roxas got back on his feet, offering the taller man a hand. He took it and rubbed the back of his head when they were both up.

 

“Sorry, man...” Demyx let out pathetically. Roxas shrugged.

 

“Hey. You should be with the person you love.” He expected that to be harder than it had been to tell his now ex-boyfriend that.  But there was nothing, no hurt or guilt, or even anger like he was expecting.  Was that a hint of relief he felt as well? The blonde contemplated his thoughts as the pair made their way back into the gymnasium.  Only this time, they didn't stop at their usual dancing spot, passing a giggling Sora who was dancing on Riku's feet.

 

Axel grimaced at the cup full of red punch, silently wish it was spiked with something- anything -to make him forget about the night and let it pass already. He knew he wasn't gonna go looking for that stuff though, he'd given that stuff up, but it was still tempting. That was until Roxas walked up to him with a small smile.

 

“Where's your boy toy? You two are usually ripping up the dance floor.” Axel said over the music. Roxas had meant to slowly ease his way into it, but his mouth betrayed him royally.

 

“We broke up.” Roxas practically threw up all over Axel.  The red head blinked, then again.  Suddenly the punch had gone flying when his fist had clenched. That _bastard_ actually pulled together the _balls_ to dump his _angel_ of a best friend? Axel was seeing red, and it wasn't in his hair or the solo cup.

 

Roxas' face went from apathetic to concerned as he watched Axel seethe in a way he'd only seen two other times.  The first time was in elementary when he got so fed up with Roxas and Sora asking questions that he had actually been pulled out of school for the rest of the day. The second was when he sent Seifer running tail between his legs for picking fights with Hayner and Roxas the year prior.

 

“Axel, wait, there's more to it than that-”

 

“I'll kill him.” Roxas yanked on Axel's arm, who fought tooth and nail.  Thankfully Demyx and Zexion were nowhere in sight, probably dealing with the development at one or the others house. When yanking on Axel didn't work, he sighed and waived a hand in front of the red head's face, trying to get his attention.

 

“Can- can you kill him tomorrow? I... I could really use a friend and a ride home.” Roxas offered out, knowing that Axel would listen to that. The red head stopped and looked down when Roxas' voice squeaked out, taking in a breath and slowly let it out before running a hand through his red spikes.

 

“Sure... I'll take you home, Roxy.” He said after a good minute of calming down, ushering the blonde man out with murder still blazing in his eyes. There had been an awkward silence on the way home, with Axel muttering death sentences under his breath and Roxas just trying to let the man calm down while he processed everything that happened.

 

The familiar driveway of the blonde's home came into view, and Roxas practically jumped out of the car while it was still moving.  He was grateful that his parents were visiting family in France as Axel still hadn't stopped simmering yet. He decided that ice cream and a movie were probably the best bet in getting two words in at the moment.

 

After getting changed into something drastically more comfortable and demanding that Axel change too (after all, he did seem to 'accidentally' forget half his wardrobe there) The pair were comfortably on the living room sofa watching a sappy movie and eating three different tubs of ice cream all at once.  Roxas had put his legs up on the older male's, and practically glued the rest of their body's together wherever he could manage.  Axel didn't care, it actually helped him to calm down.

 

“The breakup was more of a mutual thing anyway.” Roxas braved telling the taller male.  He suppressed a relieved sigh when Axel didn't do anything but glance at him curiously.

 

“I think he's in love with Zexion and just hasn't fully realized it yet.  Either that or he's afraid of rejection.” the blonde said with a shrug, taking another bite out of the cookie dough ice cream. “I thought I would be upset about it, but... I'm really not. Maybe it's cause...” He trailed off, looking back at the screen. Axel furrowed his eyebrows and elbowed his companion.

 

“Maybe it's cause what? Don't tell me you have a girl crush instead.” He chided. Roxas shook his head and sighed.

 

“Quand je regardais les yeux de Demyx, je l'ai vu vos yeux brillants à la place.” Roxas said quietly, but it was loud enough to send Axel into a state of shock. Roxas saw HIS eyes when he looked at Demyx? He must've heard that right.  He hadn't taken almost six damn years of French for nothing. When he could function again he looked at Roxas with wide eyes.  He had a lot of questions to ask, but all that his mouth could get out was a small 'huh'?

 

“I said don't get mad at Demyx. It's not his fault he's in love.” Roxas squeezed out of his teeth, and Axel caught the lie.  He could've said something, could've made all of that tension and curiosity and hope give way into something more if he had just been a man and confronted him about it. He wasn't ready to cross that line with his best friend yet, so instead he turned back to the movie in front of them and went through processing what was all going on.

 

Well, _damn_.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [心からの言葉 (Words from the heart)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17560352) by [Sarabellum93](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarabellum93/pseuds/Sarabellum93)




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